China sentences 8 to death for attacks in Xinjiang

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BEIJING — Chinese state media say eight people have been sentenced to death for involvement in two attacks that left 46 people dead earlier this year in the far western region of Xinjiang.

State broadcaster China Central Television said the Urumqi Intermediate People’s Court announced the verdicts on Monday. It said five others received suspended death sentences.

An explosion at the Urumqi train station on April 30 killed three people, including two attackers. About three weeks later on May 22, four men drove two SUVs through a crowded market in the city while tossing explosives, killing themselves and 39 others.

Following the attacks, authorities launched a one-year crackdown on violence in Xinjiang, home to the Muslim, Turkic-speaking Uighur minority. Beijing has blamed the violence on terrorism.